The Professor's Daughter: Half-Blood Prince
by K-yers
Summary: The war against Voldemort is raging on and Calla Snape must now deal with a mission that she's been ordered by her father to watch over; a mission she hardly knows anything about. And as the year goes on, the lines between doing what's right and doing what's smart gets blurred, leaving everyone unaware of who to trust.
1. 1: Unwanted Visitors

**A/N: Hello world and welcome to the fifth installment of The Professor's Daughter! I have long awaited for this particular story to come to life and I'm really excited to finally get to write it! Now, if you haven't read the first four stories I highly suggest that you do because if you don't you're going to be extremely confused. They're on my profile. Don't say I didn't warn you. Now kick back, grab a snack, and enjoy "The Professor's Daughter: Half-Blood Prince". :)**

* * *

I needed to get new books. Hogwarts letters hadn't come in yet but I knew that I needed to get three new books that were upgraded for the common fifth year. I turned fifteen early on in the summer. It had been a small occasion, just me and Dad at home. Soon after that though, Wormtail had been sent to us.

I had no idea as to why Wormtail had to stay with us, but Dad told me not to question it, so I didn't. Dad made sure to keep Wormtail out of my way. So now Wormtail cleaned the house and brought us food whenever we called for it. The only time I directed an order to Wormtail was when I wanted him to clean Rowling's cage.

There was a knock on the door. I got there before Wormtail and I opened the door, expecting to see Cameron Baker, the Muggle-born thirteen year old from down the road. He had been coming over whenever he was bored. But instead I saw a familiar pale face and right behind it was another face that was gaunt and dark. I slammed the door on them before they could speak.

They knocked the door again and I opened it once more to glare at them. "What do you want?"

"You're as charming as your father," The paler woman snapped. She made a move to force her way in but I quickly drew my wand from my pocket and pointed it in her face. Narcissa Malfoy stared at me skeptically. "I don't think you would actually curse me in front of your neighborhood friends."

"You really want to try me?" I asked. Narcissa's sister hissed softly from behind her. I pointed my wand to her face. "I haven't forgotten you, don't worry."

Bellatrix Lestrange stared at me with something that looked like hatred. "Let us in girl, or I'll shoot you down here and now. I don't care who's watching." Then she turned and spotted a group of small children playing across the street. "Or maybe I should just torture them over there?"

I sidestepped and let them in. Narcissa had the decency to mutter me a thank you. I led them around the hall to Dad's office. He looked faintly surprised to see Narcissa and Bellatrix but at the same time he looked like he had been expecting them.

Dad's office had always reminded me of a padded cell. The walls were completely covered in books, most of them bound in old black or brown leather; a threadbare sofa, and old armchair, and a rickety table that stood grouped together in a pool of dim light cast by a candle-filled lamp hung from the ceiling. The place had an air of neglect, as though it was not usually inhabited.

Dad gestured Narcissa to the sofa. Before he could kick me out I dropped down into the armchair and picked up the nearest book, a leather bound ancient collection of articles about curses and their countercurses. I flipped to a random page as Narcissa stared me down.

"I'd rather speak to you in private, Severus," Narcissa said to Dad, all while giving me the stink eye. Dad looked between us and shook his head.

"Apologies, Narcissa," Dad said coolly. "But whatever I say in here would either be discovered by Calla later or I would simply tell her. There isn't a difference in whether she stays or goes."

I smirked and raised my eyebrows at Narcissa. She ignored my looked and turned fully to Dad. "Other than your daughter, we are alone?" She asked. I glanced down at my book.

"Yes, of course." Dad said.

"Severus, I'm sorry to come here like this." Narcissa said in a rush. "I think you are the only one who can help me…" She took a great, shuddering breath and started again. "Severus, I know I ought not to be here, I have been told to say nothing to anyone, but—"

"Then you ought to hold your tongue!" Bellatrix snarled. "Particularly in present company!" She fired that last bit at me directly.

"I don't give a damn about what you're going on about," I snapped at her. "I simply don't want to be left out here."

"You fought with Potter at the Ministry!" Bellatrix said in an accusing voice. I leaned towards her.

"What of it?" I fired back. Dad stopped both of us from going any farther.

"You both act like children!" He snapped. I ducked down behind my book again. Dad and Narcissa continued. "Now, you have come to me for help, Narcissa?"

"Yes, Severus. I—I think you are the only one who can help me; I have nowhere else to turn. Lucius is in jail and…"

She closed her eyes and two large tears seeped from beneath her eyelids. I blinked and reached into my pocket. After the events from last year, I had taken to carrying tissues in my pocket in case I needed them. I handed one to Narcissa. She hesitated but took the tissue with a tiny nod.

"Thank you," She whispered. I nodded back to her and disappeared back behind the book. "The Dark Lord has forbidden me to speak of it. He wishes none to know of the plan. It is…very secret. But—"

"If he has forbidden it, you ought not to speak," Dad said at once. "The Dark Lord's word is law."

Narcissa gasped as if he had doused her with cold water. Bellatrix looked satisfied for the first time since entering the house.

"There!" She said triumphantly to her sister. "Even Snape says so: You were told not to talk, so hold your silence!"

But Dad had gotten to his feet and strode to the small window, peered through the curtains at the deserted street, then closed them again with a jerk. He turned to face Narcissa, frowning.

"It so happens that I know of the plan," He said in a low voice. "I am one of the few the Dark Lord has told. Nevertheless, had I not been in on the secret, Narcissa, you would have been guilty of great treachery to the Dark Lord."

"I thought you must know about it!" Narcissa said, breathing more freely. "He trusts you so, Severus…"

"You know about the plan?" Bellatrix asked, her fleeting expression of satisfaction replaced by a look of outrage. "_You _know?"

"Certainly," Dad said. "But what help do you require, Narcissa? If you are imagining I can persuade the Dark Lord to change his mind, I am afraid there is no hope, none at all."

I had no idea what was happening? I was curious as to what plan they were talking about, but I also didn't want to be kicked out of the room. So I held my tongue.

"Severus," Narcissa whispered, tears sliding down her pale cheeks. My tissue was clumped in her hand. "My son…my only son…How would you feel if it was your child instead?"

"Draco should be proud!" Bellatrix said indifferently. "The Dark Lord is granting him a great honor. And I will say this for Draco: he isn't shrinking away from his duty, he seems glad of a chance to prove himself, excited at the prospect—"

Narcissa began to cry in earnest, gazing beseechingly all the while at Dad. "That's because he's sixteen and has no idea what lies in store! Why, Severus? Why my son? It is too dangerous! This is vengeance for Lucius's mistake, I know it!"

Dad said nothing. He looked away from the sight of her tears as though they were indecent, but I knew that he couldn't pretend not to hear her. There was a sudden knock at the door. I frowned at Narcissa and Bellatrix; surely they didn't bring friends along with them? Then again, it could just be Cameron wanting to hang out.

"Calla, go get the door before Wormtail does; we don't want your friend being scared out of his wits." Dad told me. His black eyes were screaming at me to hurry up and escape. I left the room in a hurry and answered the door for Cameron.


	2. 2: An Excess of Phlegm

It was a few days after Narcissa and Bellatrix left and I was trying to pack up my trunk. Dad had contacted Mrs. Weasley and I would be staying the rest of summer holidays at the Burrow. I was slightly disappointed; Dad and I were finally starting to see eye to eye. Now we were back to him sending me away during the summer.

My room was strewn with various possessions and a good smattering of rubbish. Owl feathers, apple cores, and sweet wrappers littered the floor, a number of spellbooks lay higgledy-piggledy among the tangled robes on my bed, and then there was the mess of newspapers puddled on my writing desk. My trunk stood in the middle of the room. Its lid was open and I wasn't very tempted to start working on the residue of sweets, empty ink bottles, and broken quills that coated the very bottom.

Dad came in after an hour and, with a very surprised look in my direction, he caused the pile of junk at the bottom of the trunk (and the rest of the room) disappear. He then told me to hurry and pack. We had to leave for the Burrow in a few hours.

I quickly packed the rest, taking care to leave behind my old spellbooks that I no longer needed. Dad and I made our way outside once I was finished and we started for the river, where Dad would Apparate us both to the Burrow.

"So what's the task that Draco has to do this year?" I asked him in a voice that suggested light conversation. Dad raised his eyebrows at me and sighed.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that right now, Calla." He answered. I tried not to let the disappointment be shown in my face that much. We made it to the riverside. Dad held out his arm. With the familiar extremely uncomfortable feeling, we Apparated on the spot and appeared a mile away from the Burrow.

"I think you will continue on your own, Calla," Dad said. I nodded and hugged him goodbye. Dad told the usual: be good and polite and not to give Mr. and Mrs. Weasley too much trouble. Then he Apparated again and I was left alone.

I trudged all the way to the Burrow, dragging my trunk and Rowling's empty cage behind me. From overhead I spotted the black owl soaring far above me. I shook my head and finally made it to the Weasley household. I knocked three times on the door and saw some sudden movement from behind the kitchen window.

"Who's there?" A nervous voice I recognized as Mrs. Weasley's asked. "Declare yourself!"

"Um, it's me, Calla Snape," I said uncertainly. The door opened at once. There was Mrs. Weasley, short, plump, and wearing an old green gown.

"Calla, dear! Gracious, you gave me a fright. Hurry now, come on in!" Mrs. Weasley pulled me into the house and I felt instantly welcome in the tight and cozy kitchen. Mrs. Weasley piled me a plate full of eggs and bacon and toast almost immediately. "Eat up, Calla. I swear, you and Ginny both look like you've been put under a Stretching Jinx."

I glanced down at myself. It was true that I had lost some weight from now and last time I saw Mrs. Weasley. But I was still plenty short and must've grown a simple inch if even that. But I still smiled and started shoveling food into my mouth. I spotted a ginger cat rubbing itself against the kitchen chairs.

"Is Hermione here?" I asked.

"Oh yes, and Harry too. He got here just last night." Mrs. Weasley answered. "Ron and Hermione and Ginny have all headed up there to visit. You go ahead and see them, Calla. I'm sure you'll want to see them again. They'll all be in Fred and George's old room."

"Are Fred and George even here?" I asked. I meant to ask if George was here. Mrs. Weasley shook her head.

"They've been staying at a flat above their joke shop. At first I didn't approve, but they both seem to have an excellent knack for business." I smiled at the thought of Fred and George's business booming and started upstairs to Fred and George's room.

Fred and George's room was on the second floor. I opened the door and found myself washed in a bath of warm light. Though a large vase of flowers had been placed on a desk in front of a small window, their perfumes could not disguise the lingering smell of what I thought was gunpowder. A considerable amount of floor space was devoted to a vast number of unmarked, sealed cardboard boxes, amongst which stood Harry's school trunk. The room looked like it was being used as a temporary warehouse.

"Calla, you're here!" Ginny cried as I fully stepped into the room. She ran forward and hugged me. Hermione came after her and I saw Harry and Ron sitting down on one of the twin beds. I gave them both brief hugs before standing beside an open box beside the bed.

"Don't I get breakfast?" Harry asked with fake hurt in his voice. I laughed and scooped another pile of eggs into my mouth. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry about that, Mom reckons you're underfed." Ron assured his friend. Everyone laughed except for Ginny, who just huffed and looked very irritable. Hermione asked her what was wrong.

"It's _her_," Ginny said, plonking herself down on Harry's bed. "She's driving me mad!"

"What's she done now?" Hermione asked sympathetically.

"It's the way she talks to me—you'd think I was about three!"

"I know," Hermione said, dropping her voice. "She's so full of herself."

I was astonished to hear Hermione talking about Mrs. Weasley like this and could not blame Ron for saying angrily, "Can't you two lay off her for five seconds?"

"Oh that's right, defend her," Ginny snapped. "We all know you can't get enough of her."

This seemed like an odd comment to make about Ron's mother. Starting to feel that I was missing something, I started to ask, "Who are you—"

But my question was answered before I could even finish it. The door flew open again, and I saw Harry yank the bed covers to his chin so hard that Hermione and Ginny slid off the bed and onto the floor.

A young woman was standing in the doorway. She was tall and willowy with long blond hair and appeared to emanate a faint, silvery glow. She was also carrying a heavily laden breakfast tray.

"'Arry," She said in a throaty voice. "Eet 'as been too long!"

As she swept over the threshold toward him, Mrs. Weasley was revealed, bobbing along in her wake, looking rather cross.

"I 'ave been longing to see you. You remember my seester, Gabrielle? She never stops talking about 'Arry Potter. She will be delighted to see you again."

"Oh…is she here too?" Harry croaked. I curled my lip at him and rolled my eyes while eating more breakfast.

"No, no silly boy," Fleur Delacour said with a tinkling laugh. "I mean next summer, when we—but do you not know? Bill and I are going to be married!"

"Oh," Harry said blankly. I saw that all Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, and Ginny were all determinedly avoiding one another's gaze. Harry seemed at a loss of what to say. "Wow. Er—congratulations!"

She swooped down on him and kissed him very lightly on the lips. "Bill is very busy at ze moment, working very 'ard, and I only work part-time at Gringotts for my Eenglish, so he brought me 'ere for a few days to get to know 'is family properly. I was so pleased to 'ear you would be coming—zere isn't much to do 'ere, unless you like cooking and chickens! Well—enjoy your breakfast, 'Arry!" With these words she turned gracefully away and seemed to float out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"I see what you mean," I muttered. Ginny pointed at me and nodded feverishly. Mrs. Weasley shook her head ever so slightly.

"I still think they rushed into this engagement," She said.

"They've known each other a year," Ron said, who looked oddly groggy and was staring at the closed door.

"Well, that's not very long! I know why it's happened, of course. It's all this uncertainty with You-Know-Who coming back, people think they might be dead tomorrow, so they're rushing all sorts of decisions they'd normally take time over. It was the same last time he was powerful, people eloping left and right, and center—"

"Including you and Dad," Ginny said slyly.

"Yes, well, your father and I were made for each other, what was the point in waiting?" Mrs. Weasley said. "Whereas Bill and Fleur…well…what have they really got in common? He's hard-working, down-to-earth sort of person, whereas she…"

"A cow," Ginny said, nodding. "But Bill's not that down-to-earth. He's a Curse-Breaker, isn't he, he likes a bit of adventure, a bit of glamour…I expect that's why he's gone for Phlegm."

"Stop calling her that, Ginny," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, as Hermione and I laughed. "Well, I better get on, come along Ginny, you can help me in the kitchen."

"But I'm talking to this lot!" Ginny said. Mrs. Weasley held firm and walked from the room. Ginny huffed. "She only wants me down there so that she's not alone with Phlegm." Ginny looked at me desperately. "You're coming down soon, right?"

I nodded. "I'll be down as soon as I'm done with this." I held up my almost gone breakfast plate. Ginny sighed and slumped from the room. The door shut softly behind her.

There was a moment of temporary silence that Harry took the opportunity to eat some breakfast. I started looking through the open box beside me, not really sure what I would find. I found something that looked like a small telescope. I sat down my plate and plucked up the small object.

"What's this?" I asked, holding it up and peering through it.

"Dunno," Ron said. "But if Fred and George've left it here, it's probably not ready for the joke shop yet, so be careful."

"You mom says the shop is going well," Harry mumbled through a mouthful of bacon. "Said Fred and George have got a real flair for business."

"That's an understatement," Ron said. "They're raking in Galleons! I can't wait to see the place, we haven't been to Diagon Alley yet." I accidentally squeezed the telescope.

Instantly I was socked in the face and a cloud of black smoke surrounded me. I coughed and held my hand up to my eye, which had swelled shut. Someone—Ron, I think—waved the smoke away and I faced them with a brand new black eye.

"I squeezed it and it punched me!" I gasped. And sure enough, I could now see a tiny fist on a long spring protruding from the end of the telescope.

"Don't worry," Ron said, who was plainly trying not to laugh. "Mom'll fix it; she's good at healing minor injuries…"

I hurried with my breakfast plate and the telescope out of the room and downstairs.


	3. 3: The World

I sat at Mrs. Weasley's kitchen table while she tried to lessen my resemblance to half a panda. Ginny and Hermione stood in the corner and Fleur stood directly over Mrs. Weasley's shoulder, which was starting to irritate both of us.

"It just won't budge," Mrs. Weasley said anxiously, standing over me with her wand in her hand and a copy of _The Healer's Helpmate _open at "Bruises, Cuts, and Abrasions." "This has always worked before, I just can't understand it."

"It'll be Fred and George's idea of a funny joke, making sure it can't come off," Ginny said.

"But it's got to come off!" I said, starting to feel anxious by looking at Mrs. Weasley's worried face. "I can't go around looking like this forever!"

"You won't dear, we'll find and antidote, don't worry," Mrs. Weasley said soothingly.

"Bill told me 'ow Fred and George are very amusing!" Fleur said, smiling.

"Yes, I can hardly breathe for laughing." I snapped, rolling my eyes. Ron appeared into my eyesight and peered down at me.

"It makes your eyes look even darker!" He said, as if that was supposed to make me feel better. I mock-glared at him and sat up in my chair. Ron laughed. "Well this gives us an excuse to visit the joke shop, right? Maybe Fred and George have the antidote with them."

"Maybe _George _has the antidote," Ginny said slyly. I grabbed the first thing that came to my hands—that damn telescope—and threw it at Ginny. She caught it and stuck her tongue out at me.

* * *

The Leaky Cauldron was, for the first time in my memory, completely empty. Only Tom the landlord, wizened and toothless, remained of the old crowd. He looked up hopefully as we entered, but before he could speak, Mr. Weasley said importantly, "Just passing through today, Tom."

Tom nodded gloomily and returned to wiping glasses; I walked through the bar and out into the chilly little courtyard with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Harry, Ron, Hermione.

Diagon Alley had changed. The colorful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potions ingredients, and cauldrons were lost to view, hidden behind the large Ministry of Magic posters that had been pasted over them. Most of these posters were wanted Death Eater posters. I saw some of Bellatrix Lestrange (I tried to ignore the fact that I had seen her in my Dad's office a few days ago), Robert Castamere, and my mother, Margaret Tully. A few windows were boarded up, including those of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione went with Mr. Weasley and went to Madam Malkin's for brand new robes for everyone. Mrs. Weasley took me and Ginny to Flourish and Blotts to buy everyone's new books. Harry made sure to give me some of his money to buy his set of books; I gave him some of my money so that he could pay for my robes.

Even the book store had lost some spunk with the war. Many of the people we passed had the same harried, anxious look as Mrs. Weasley, and nobody seemed to talk anymore; the shoppers stayed together in their own tightly knit groups, moving intently about their business. Nobody seemed to be shopping alone.

"For the love of Merlin, Father, we're perfectly capable of shopping by ourselves." A familiar voice snapped from deeper into the store. Ginny and I looked around to see Cersei and Jaime Clegane facing off with a man I could only presume was Papa Clegane.

Aerys Clegane had to be at least in his late fifties. His hair had thinned and he was partially bald but it was settled somewhere between the colors white and gold. His face was tight and had very few lines. Faint golden stubble rested on his chin. His eyes were the same bright emerald that belonged to his twin children. Jaime and Cersei noticed us staring at them and that led Mr. Clegane to turn as well. He raised his hand and, with one finger, beckoned us both closer. Mrs. Weasley had left to go get everyone's books. Ginny and I glanced nervously at each other before obeying Mr. Clegane.

He towered over both us. Ginny was tall enough already, but Aerys was clearly seven feet tall (maybe even slightly above that). I felt like a dwarf standing beside him.

"I take it as you know my youngest children?" Aerys asked in a deep voice that sounded a lot like a lion's purr. I glanced at Cersei and Jaime. So there were more Clegane children other than them?

"Yes sir," I answered politely. "My name is Calla Snape. I'm in the same year as Jaime and Cersei."

Aerys smiled ever so slightly. "Yes, both of them have spoken of you before. And your redheaded friend must be Ginny Weasley, then?" Ginny nodded, suddenly unable to speak. Aerys nodded also. "I work with your father in the Department of Misused Items. He's been an excellent boss so far."

"Thank you sir," Ginny said, finally finding her voice. Aerys snorted with dark mirth.

"Two very polite young ladies; I can't imagine why my children speak so negatively about you."

Ginny and I looked at each other again. Jaime was staring at his feet. Cersei was pretending to look at some books on the shelf, but her ears were bright red.

"Ginny, Calla!" Mrs. Weasley called. We both turned around to see Mrs. Weasley with an armful of books. I turned back to Aerys.

"It was nice to finally meet you, Mr. Clegane." I said. We both hurried to get away from that man's piercing green gaze. I only felt safe after that when we were back at Mrs. Weasley's side.

* * *

After our confrontation with Mr. Clegane, Ginny and I walked with Mrs. Weasley to the Apothecary to get potion ingredients. Later, we all met up with Mr. Weasley, Harry, Ron, and Hermione after that. Hermione mentioned something about meeting Draco and Narcissa there. I tensed and thought back to Draco's mission that Narcissa was stressing out about. After the two sisters had left our house, Dad made me swear not to tell _anyone _about the information I had heard. Not wanting to ruin our new relationship, I agreed and held my tongue and started walking to the twins' joke shop with everyone else.

Set against, the dull, poster-muffled shop fronts around us, Fred and George's windows hit the eye like a firework display. Casual passersby were looking back over their shoulders at the windows, and a few rather stunned-looking people had actually come to a halt, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzling full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked; my eyes began to water just looking at it. The right-hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the Ministry, but emblazed with flashing yellow letters: _Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who? You Should Be Worrying About U-No-Poo—The Constipation Sensation That's Gripping The Nation!_

I started to laugh. I heard a weak moan behind me and turned around to see Mrs. Weasley gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name "U-No-Poo."

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" She whispered.

"No they won't!" Ron said, who, like me, was laughing. "This is brilliant!"

He and Harry led the way into the shop. It was packed with customers; I could not get near the shelves. I stared around, looking up at the boxes piled to the ceiling: here were the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts; I noticed that the Nosebleed Nougat was most popular with only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands, the cheapest merely turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the user around the head and neck, and boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and I pushed my way toward the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds were watching a tiny wooden man slowly ascending the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a box that read: _Reusable Hangman—Spell It Or He'll Swing!_

"'Patented Daydream Charms…'" Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box bearing highly colored picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship. I got closer to listen.

"'One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens.' You know, that is really extraordinary magic!" Hermione said, looking at me.

"For that, Hermione," A voice said from behind us. "You can have one for free."

A beaming Fred stood before us, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.

"How are you two lovely ladies doing today?" Fred asked. He frowned at my face. "And what happened to your eye, Snapey?"

I reached into my bag and pulled out the darn telescope. "Your punching telescope," I said ruefully. Fred took it from my hands and looked at it, dumbfounded.

"Blimey, I forgot about these," He said. "Wait here, I'll get George, I think he might have the antidote you're looking for." Without another word, Fred was gone with the guilty telescope.

Not even a full minute later, Fred was back with his twin. George's face lit up when he saw me. "Snapey!" He shouted above the noise and he gathered me into an extremely tight bear hug. "I see you found our punching telescopes."

"What was the point of that thing anyway?" I asked. George shrugged, his wide smile still plastered on his face. I felt happy with how happy he seemed to be. George had the telescope in his hand.

"I've got some bruise remover in the back that'll get rid of that in an hour. Come on," He quickly grabbed my hand and started to drag me through the crowd. I felt my face turn bright red as he pulled me through the crowd, but at the same time it reminded me of our days hiding in the Astronomy Tower.

The back was completely different from the main room. It was much darker and less crowded. The packaging on the products lining these walls was much more subdued. George started shifting through a slightly torn cardboard box. When he resurfaced, he held a tub and opened it to reveal a thick yellow paste that reeked of flobberworms.

"Not the most pleasant smell in the world, but it does its job." George said, seeing the expression on my face. He gestured me to sit down on a wooden crate. I did as I was told and George pulled up another crate and sat in front of me. He dabbed his middle finger into the paste and held it up to my face. "Look up for me," I obeyed and George started to dab the paste right onto the bruise.

"So how's life going for you, Snapey?" George asked.

"Pretty well actually," I replied. "But Hogwarts is going to be extremely boring without someone pulling pranks every now and then." I saw George grin out of the corner of my eye.

"I'm sure someone's been dying to replace to me and Fred for a long time. There's going to be some idiots trying too hard to be us, just wait." George smeared the paste along the underside of my eye.

"How's business going?" I asked. "According to Ron you both are raking in Galleons." George laughed again.

"It would seem so," George muttered. "We've just started a Muggle magic trick aisle out there; for freaks like Dad."

"I'm sure your dad loves that," I said. George removed his finger from my face and I got to look at him directly. He was wiping his finger on a spare cloth. He was looking me up and down. I got the feeling that he wanted to tell me something important, but just didn't know how to say it.

"Are you alright, George?" I asked. George bit the inside of his mouth and I realized that I had seen that look on Mrs. Weasley's face whenever she was stressing out. What on earth could be stressing George out so much?

"Is your dad working with the Death Eaters?" George asked suddenly. I blinked and told him he was doing some jobs for Dumbledore. George sighed. "I just want you to keep safe this year, Snapey. What with You-Know-Who out in the open and people disappearing and showing up dead—"

He cut himself off. I looked at him. "George, I'm not messing around this year. Trust me, I plan on having the quietest year anyone could possibly have."

George looked slightly assured and he dropped the subject. He tucked the tub of paste back into its rightful place and removed the tiny fist from the telescope. He tossed it to me.

"Souvenir?" He asked, wriggling his eyebrows. I laughed and put the now harmless telescope back into my bag. George also allowed me to have whatever I wanted from the store. But I only took the telescope: a small brass telescope when I could've asked for the world.


	4. 4: Professor Slughorn

The train was starting to gather speed. Ginny and I managed to get our trunks up above our heads with the help of Ginny's current boyfriend, Dean Thomas. I liked him so much better than Michael Corner. Though I couldn't help but notice that he was extremely clingy with her. But if Ginny noticed, she didn't say anything. So I held my tongue.

Neville soon joined us along with Dean's best friend Seamus Finnigan. Dean and Seamus spent a lot of the time joking with one another and Ginny sat with them, leaving Neville and I to share the other seats. Neville proudly showed me the new wand his grandmother bought him, as the one from the Ministry battle had broken some time during it.

"Cherry and unicorn hair," He said proudly. "We think it was the last one Ollivander ever sold, he vanished the next day."

"Do you know if we're doing D.A meetings this year, Snape?" Dean asked. I realized with a jolt that they were all looking at me, even Ginny.

"How should I know?" I asked. Dean shrugged and replied with that it seemed like I would be a person to know. I thought about that statement and leaned back in my chair. Before anyone could say anything else, a breathless third year girl stepped inside the compartment.

"I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom and Calla Snape and Ginny Weasley," She told us, breathless. She was holding out three scrolls for us to take. I took them from her and she quickly left the compartment. I passed the scrolls out to the appropriate people and we tore the seal to read the messages.

_I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C. Sincerely, Professor H. E. F. Slughorn_

"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Neville asked, looking perplexedly at his own invitation.

"New teacher," I said. "Well, I suppose we have to go, won't we?"

"But what does he want with me?" Neville asked nervously, as though he was expecting detention.

"No idea," Ginny said. She kissed Dean goodbye (which took forever) and the three of us hunted down compartment C. When we reached it, we soon discovered that we were not Slughorn's only invites.

"Hello there!" Professor Slughorn beamed at us as we entered the compartment. He had a shiny bald head with tufts of hair still hanging on at the side of his head and a great mustache that made him look like a great walrus. "Good to finally meet you all! I'm Professor Horace Slughorn, and you must be Professor Snape's daughter, correct?" He asked, eyeing me and shaking my hand rather fast.

"Yes sir," I said. Slughorn released me. He rounded on Neville.

"And you must be Neville Longbottom!"

Neville nodded, looking scared. At a gesture from Slughorn, we sat down in the seats nearest to the door. I glanced around at our fellow guests. I recognized Blaise Zabini, a tall black boy from Slytherin with high cheekbones and long, slanting eyes. I knew he spent a lot of time hanging out with Cersei Clegane; apparently they were going out. Then there were two seventh year boys I didn't know. The compartment door opened and in came Harry and Hermione, who looked like she had no idea why she was here.

Slughorn went into a speech welcoming them both into the compartment and they both had to squeeze past us to sit directly in front of Slughorn. Slughorn beamed around at everyone and started introducing everyone. I held my tongue as Slughorn introduced everyone to each other. I sat between Neville and Ginny the whole time. I quickly found out what Slughorn wanted though.

He made sure that all the students had well-known relatives. Except for Ginny, who Slughorn had apparently seen jinxing one of my Slytherin classmates. He had been so impressed that he had decided to invite her lunch. Ginny and I glanced at each other and both thought that this man was nuts.

We were in that compartment with Professor Slughorn for the entire afternoon. Before I knew it, the lights had turned on. Slughorn's eyes widened and he hustled us out of his compartment.

"Well he was interesting," I muttered to Ginny and Neville as we headed back down to our original compartment. Harry disappeared somewhere behind us. Ginny snorted.

"That's an understatement," She said. "He's certainly an oddball, that's for sure." I shook my head and, for the first time since lunch with Slughorn, thought about getting back to Hogwarts.

* * *

The Great Hall was glittering and bright when I finally walked in once more. I sighed and headed for the Slytherin table. I was quickly spotted Tyrion Clegane, a third-year who seemed to be my only friend in my House. I did a double-take when I saw him though; the summer had changed little Tyrion greatly.

Tyrion had always been on the extreme short side but he must've shot upwards during the summer. Tyrion was now a few inches taller than me and his dark gold hair had grown to fall in front of his face. He grinned happily at me and quickly joined me at the table.

"You've changed," I said shortly as he sat down in front of me. Tyrion laughed.

"Yep; no longer the short kid you once knew, Calla." Tyrion said over-dramatically. "And I have some good news for you; it would seem that Jaime has finally gotten over you."

"That's a relief," I said, narrowing my eyes. "What makes you say that though?" Tyrion nodded behind me. I turned around.

Entering the Great Hall was Jaime Clegane, the golden boy who had once been the closest person to a friend I had had in Slytherin, arm in arm with who I recognized to be Daphne Greengrass, a sixth year and Astoria's older sister. I had to admit that he looked happier since I had last seen him. I nodded with a small smile on my face.

"Good for Jaime," I said finally. "I think he deserves someone good in his life; someone who'll actually like him back." Tyrion nodded at my response and we all turned our heads as Professor Dumbledore called for attention.

"What happened to his hand?" Tyrion asked with shock. He wasn't the only one who noticed. Dumbledore's right hand was blackened and dead-looking. Whispers swept the room; Dumbledore, interpreting them correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple-and-gold sleeve over his injury.

"Nothing to worry about," He said airily. "Now…to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year of magical education awaits you. Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of Houses as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?"

_"Potions?"_

The word echoed all over the Hall as people wondered whether they had heard right. Tyrion and I exchanged confused looks.

"Did your dad tell you that he was no longer Potions master?" Tyrion asked. Several other Slytherins were paying attention as I shook my head just as lost as them.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Dumbledore said, raising his voice so that it carried over all the muttering. "Will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

There was a large applause from the Slytherin table. I clapped along with them but I was still confused and a bit hurt. I had thought that Dad and I were on close enough terms for him to tell me things like this. Apparently I thought wrong.


	5. 5: A Secret Mission

I yawned as I nibbled on my banana nut muffin. A few first years were sitting a little farther down from me, and they kept glancing over their shoulders at me. Eventually I got tired of it and threatened to tell a prefect. That shut them up.

I had managed to make it through History of Magic and Divination without falling asleep, but now that it was lunchtime, I was having trouble. I couldn't fall asleep last night. Images had flooded my mind with green flashes and cabinets and the Dark Mark floating in the sky.

Yep, barely even a week into classes and I was already prepared to lose my marbles.

There was one thing that was off that bothered me more than my nightmares though. Draco Malfoy was sitting alone at the far end of the table.

His usual crowd of Slytherins was still sitting together in their regular spots, but Draco had positioned himself as far from them as possible. He was holding his chin in both of his hands and was staring at the wood of the table. And it looked like I wasn't the only one who had noticed Draco's behavior.

Pansy Parkinson had tried twice already to bring Draco back into the group. But both times he would force her back out again. Pansy looked ready to burst into tears as she returned to her seat beside Cersei Clegane.

Did Draco's attitude problem have to do with his special mission? Dad was supposed to help him. But whatever was going on, it didn't look like Draco was in the mood to be accepting help. For the thousandth time since Narcissa showed up on our doorstep, I wondered what Draco's stupid mission was.

* * *

"Calla, may I have a word with you?" Dad asked as Ginny and I packed up our books. Ginny risked me a worried glance but I nodded at her. Ginny still looked worried as she walked away. I walked out from behind my desk and strolled up to Dad's desk.

"Yeah?" I asked. Dad looked like he was regretting already what he was going to tell me.

"I have a favor for you," Dad started uncertainly. I narrowed my eyes and watched him closely.

"What is it?"

"I suppose you remember Draco Malfoy's mission?" Dad asked. I felt my pulse spike and I nodded excitedly. Was Dad finally going to tell me what the mission was? "I need you to help him with it. As you might have noticed, he has not started with it yet, and this mission is on a very strict schedule. If he does not finish his mission by the end of the school year, it will most definitely result in more than one death."

I felt a sweep of cold blanket around me that had nothing to do with the open window. "Who would die?"

Dad blinked and hesitated. "It would be best if you didn't know that information. Just know that I can't tell you about Draco's mission, that's for him to decide if he wants you to know. I just want you to be there for him and to help him whenever you can and to make sure that this mission is successful."

"I don't know if you've noticed or not," I said. "But Draco and I have never seen eye to eye. I think he'd rather eat a pile of flobberworms before he accepts any kind of help from me."

Dad snorted. "I cannot teach you how to gain someone's trust. If it helps, Draco is having a hard time with his Herbology classes again. You can try and help him with that again. Use your imagination."

With that final sentence I was dismissed. I shook my head as I left the classroom. Yeah I had helped teach Draco some Herbology, but that was back when we were on our friendly ground. Now it seemed that everyone alive was on Draco's hate list and I had a feeling that I was on the top of that list.

Then I turned red as I remembered my first kiss when Draco had smashed his lips onto mine. It was by far my most awkward memory but maybe, just maybe, that Draco was still there somewhere.

I just had to work on a way to get him out of there.


	6. 6: Trust Issues

"What did your dad want?" Ginny asked that evening in the library. I had avoided her all day but now that we were back together at our usual table, avoiding her and that question was, in itself, unavoidable.

"He just wanted to see how I was doing so far," I lied smoothly. I knew for a fact that I wasn't supposed to discuss Draco's mission with anyone, even though Dad hadn't mentioned that. I hated lying to Ginny, but there was no way I could even try to tell her about the mission.

Ginny shrugged and accepted my lie. I deflated and we got to working on our History of Magic homework. We weren't working on it long before I heard someone shuffling behind the shelves. I looked up and saw that familiar white-blond head peering at some books. Ginny turned to see what I was looking at and curled her lip.

"What do you think he's looking for?" Ginny asked.

I had a very strong feeling that it had to do with his mission. "I don't know," I hesitated. "Dad wants me to become friends with him." Ginny stared.

"What, why?"

I shrugged. "I don't really know; he just told me that Malfoy's in the middle of something really important, and Dad wants me to help him somehow."

"But I'm pretty sure Malfoy hates you at the moment," Ginny voiced my thoughts. "How are you going to make friends with him when he has the personality of a dragon?"

I shrugged again. "I honestly have no idea,"

Draco was looking in the magical herbs and fungi section. I glared down at my History of Magic textbook. Ginny was watching me closely. There was no way that Draco was looking up something for his Herbology homework. My eyes met Ginny's and she sighed and nodded.

I stood up and packed my things. Draco had left the magical herbs and fungi section and was now trying to peer into the Restricted Section. I smirked to myself. This was more like it…

"What are you doing?" I asked. Draco nearly leapt out of his skin and he whipped around to glare at me furiously.

"What does it matter to you anyway, Snape? Go back to your blood traitor friend." Draco sneered before turning back around. I my anger at him insulting Ginny and continued.

"You have to get a teacher's signature to get in there," I told him blankly. Draco turned around once more to glare at me.

"I know that. Why are you still here? Leave me alone, Snape." Draco turned back to the locked gate and tried to open it. I rolled my eyes.

"I could get a signature for you."

"Why would you do that?" Draco asked without turning around. He was starting to sound irritated. I hesitated before answering.

"Because I know about your stupid mission,"

The effect was immediate. Draco spun around with fear and suspicion written all over his face. He stared at me for a long time before talking. "Did your father tell you?" He whispered.

I shook my head. "Your mom came to my house early in the summer, trying to plead with my dad about taking over your mission. Your lovely aunt Bellatrix was there too. I just wish I could've cursed her out of my house."

Draco frowned. "Why do you want to help me with it?" He looked confused and slightly sickened.

"Because I feel like I have to. From what I overheard, this thing is on a very tight schedule and if you don't get it done by the end of the year, a lot of people are going to die." I said smoothly. Draco still didn't look convinced. "Trust me, I have no idea about the specifics of your precious mission, I just know that you need help and you can't do it alone." I hesitated. "Please let me help you, Draco."

Draco looked me up and down before swallowing. "Get me a teacher signature, and then we'll talk." I nodded and left Draco standing there, looking frightened and confused.

* * *

**A/N: Here's another short chapter for y'all. I seem to be posting lots of shorter chapters lately. Hm..**

**As usual, please review & let me know how y'all are enjoying this so far. :) See y'all later.**


	7. 7: Little Pieces

Dad groaned in frustration from behind his desk. I looked up and stared at him. "What happened?"

Dad shook his head. "Robert Castamere has been talking smack."

I remembered Robert Castamere like the back of my hand. He had been the Death Eater who had cornered me and Neville at the Ministry of Magic. He had wanted to know about Lucy, his wife. He had spared us because he hadn't wanted to kill teens. I felt dread fill my stomach.

"How has he been talking smack?" I asked.

"He's been getting drunk and talking to some other Death Eaters about the Dark Lord." Dad said with his voice filled with disgust. "He's been saying that the Dark Lord has made several mistakes regarding the war and how he needs to stop before more senseless murder happens."

"Castamere saved my life," I said quietly. Dad looked at me sharply. I quickly told him the story from the Ministry and how Castamere had only wanted to hear that his wife was safe. Dad looked apologetic after I finished.

"Well, in that case I hope the Dark Lord is in a forgiving mood when he finally confronts Castamere."

I sighed and thought back to Lucy Castamere. I had thought that she and Castamere were so different. They were; but I didn't want anything happening to _her _because Castamere had gotten drunk.

* * *

I spotted Draco sitting alone at the Slytherin table again the next day. Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle kept shooting worried looks over at him but none tried to go and bring him back to where he belonged. I sighed and walked the rest of the way until I was right in front of him.

"Happy birthday, Draco," I said. I dropped the teacher signature in front of him. It had taken some convincing but eventually Professor Trelawney had agreed to get me a signature to look up some book about dreams about death. She had shrieked at me for the good part of an hour afterwards about whether or not I had the Sight. I thought to my weird dreams about cabinets and green flashes and chose not to tell her about that.

"You didn't get your father's signature?" Draco asked. He raised his pale eyebrows at me. I had known this question would come up.

"Getting my dad's signature would be too easy." I answered smoothly. "I wanted to show you that I really want to help with this mission of yours."

Draco huffed. "Fine; you can help me later look for books in the restricted section, since this note says for both of us. After that, we'll have to see." Draco pocketed the note and I walked away, feeling satisfied with my part so far.

Pansy glared at me as I walked away from Draco. Astoria Greengrass on the other hand looked extremely interested. As I walked past them Astoria stopped me and asked what I had given Draco.

I shrugged. "I just gave him what he wanted," I said vaguely. Pansy opened her mouth to snap at me but Astoria nudged her in the arm firmly.

"Thanks for telling us, Calla," Astoria said very politely. I narrowed my eyes at all of them. Pansy was glaring at her plate to avoid glaring at me; Crabbe and Goyle were nodding in agreement to Astoria's statement; Blaise and Cersei just sat super close to each other and gave me curt nods; and Jaime and Daphne Greengrass smiled politely at me. They were all being oddly polite and it was starting to weird me out.

"What's with the attitude change?" I asked. They all glanced at each other before Astoria spoke again.

"It's time to stop acting like enemies when we have a common enemy,"

I blinked at all of them. "Okay then," I sped-walked away, too weirded out by their sudden attitude adjustment.

* * *

I met Draco in the library later that afternoon. He was folding and unfolding the note in his pale hands. I looked at him up and down before we walked over to where Madam Pince was standing and stacking books.

"Good afternoon, Madam Pince," I said as politely as possible. Pince whipped around and glared at me through untrusting eyes.

"What is it that you two want?" She snapped.

"We have a note to get in the restricted section," Draco told her stiffly. He handed her the permission slip, which she inspected as if she expected a fake. Finally she looked up at us to glare furiously at both of us and then led the way to the restricted section.

Draco and I wandered through the dark halls trying to find anything that would be useful. Because Draco wouldn't tell me absolutely _anything_ about his mission, I was left picking up random books and then giving them to Draco to see if they would be handy. Nothing I grabbed was deemed useful at all.

"I would be more of a help if you would tell me what you're supposed to do," I said with frustration after replacing the twentieth book. Draco glared at me from the Dark curses section.

"I don't want you around in the first place; why would I keep you around after this?"

I rolled my eyes at him and picked up a book on extremely poisonous fungi. "If it wasn't for me you never would've gotten into the restricted section at all. A little gratitude would be appreciated."

"You're not going to _get_ any gratitude!" Draco snapped. "This is my mission and no one else's! I'm sick of people trying to steal the credit! But not this time; your dad can butt out of this. I'm going to finish this mission on my own."

I stared at him and blinked. "Well, good luck getting another permission slip to the restricted section."

Draco glared at me with questioning in his pale eyes. "What are you talking about, Snape?"

"I'm just saying that I'm not going to get you another note if you don't let me help." I said firmly. Draco glared at me furiously. I straightened and tried to be at eye-level. "I _want _to help, Draco. Whether you like it or not, you're not getting rid of me just because a few sour words."

Draco looked like he wanted to swear but he restrained himself. "Fine; I'll let you help some more. But you're not going to know what it's about, got it?"

I nodded. "Fine by me," Draco then told me that he was looking for a way to fix something (he refused to tell me what needed fixing) and we hunted for two hours before Pince hunted us down and kicked us out, telling us to try again tomorrow. Draco and I walked formally back to the Slytherin Common Room and entered together, much to the dismay of Draco's group of friends. But we said goodbye as stiffly as possible and went down to our appropriate dormitories, leaving everybody wondering what the heck was happening.


	8. 8: A Spy

I walked with Ginny from Defense class. Dad had just given us a new mountain of homework that didn't help with the growing mountain of other homework. Teachers were really cracking down simply because this was our O.W.L year.

"So how's your special mission going?" Ginny asked me in a hushed voice. She knew that what I was doing with Draco was top secret. I appreciated that she wanted to help, even though neither of us could knew a detail about the mission.

I shrugged. "He never lets me know too much. He'll have me help find him some books but he won't give me details on what books to find. It's driving me crazy just trying to have a conversation with him!"

Ginny looked like she was trying to hold in her laughter at my obvious frustration. "At least you're able to help, even if it's with practically nothing." I sighed and figured she was right. We were heading to Herbology when Harry and Ron came running around the corner.

I was faintly surprised to see that Ginny didn't tense up when she spotted Harry anymore. At first I thought that she was over him, but she still that twinkle in her eye whenever she talked about him. So I figured that she was still head over heels for Harry.

Harry's face lit up when he spotted us and he made a bee-line for us. Ginny and I stopped walking to wait for him. I saw Ron following his friend while shaking his head. What was this about?

"Hey Ginny; Calla," Harry said cheerfully; a little too cheerfully. I narrowed my eyes at him and greeted him. Ginny noticed too. "So, um, I couldn't help but notice that you've been spending a lot of time with Malfoy lately."

"How'd you figure that?" I asked. The only person I told was Ginny. And I was sure that Draco was still refusing to talk to anyone on a personal level.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I saw you two heading into the restricted section of the library two days ago." Well, now I feel stupid.

"Oh," I said dumbly. "Well, what of it?" I sounded too defensive. Ron noticed and raised his eyebrows.

"I was wondering if you could keep an eye on Malfoy," Harry said quietly, staring at a group of Slytherin second-years. They stared at Harry. Ron quickly made them leave by threatening them with detention. I turned back to Harry.

"You want me to spy on Draco?" I said. "Why?"

"He's become a Death Eater," Harry said bluntly, as if it should've been obvious. Ginny and I stared hard at him while Ron rolled his eyes.

"No he hasn't; you only _think _he's turned into a Death Eater." Ron said. "Harry reckons that Malfoy's replaced his dad in becoming a Death Eater."

That was the most far-fetched theory I had ever heard. And this was Harry we were talking about. But Lucius was trapped in Azkaban, and could be looking for a spy in Hogwarts to keep an eye on Harry. Margaret Tully had told me in the Ministry that if I joined the Death Eaters, then I could become Voldemort's most valued spy. Had Draco _really _joined them and was filling the role as a spy on Harry?

I shrugged. "I'll see what I can do," Harry brightened considerably and Ron just shook his head. Both boys walked away; I couldn't help but notice that Harry had a spring in his step. Ginny stepped forward so that we were nose to nose.

"Are you really going to jeopardize your mission by spying on Malfoy for them?" Ginny asked, concern flashing in her eyes. I looked at her evenly.

"Good Lord, no," I replied. "I only said that to get Harry off my case. If I had said no, he would know that something was up. I'll just have to make up some fake info so that he doesn't get too suspicious."

Ginny nodded and we both exchanged a dark look. Back when we were eleven, Ginny had gotten a prophecy about me from a shadow of Tom Riddle. He had told her that I would betray my friends but in the end I would save them. I just hoped that not telling Harry real information about Draco wasn't going to start the prophecy off.


	9. 9: Halfway There

Draco and I were, once again, picking through the restricted section. Draco still hadn't let me know anything about his mission. I was starting to think I'd never figure out what it was when Draco suddenly made a sucking noise from between his teeth. I dropped the book about torture I had been flipping through and flew to Draco's side.

"This is what I needed," Draco hissed triumphantly. I managed to sneak a glance at what Draco had been searching for and felt as confused as before. It was a manual for fixing bewitched furniture.

"Are you sure?" I asked. Draco glanced from between me and the book and nodded happily. He was livelier than I had ever seen him in a long time.

"This is _exactly _what I was looking for," Draco said with pride dripping from his voice. I shrugged and had to admit that I felt relieved that we had finally found the book. "Now it's on to the next phase."

"What's that?" I asked, half-expecting him to tell me to butt out. But instead he did something even more unpredictable. Draco Malfoy hugged me.

When he released me, I felt the blush on my face start to go down. Then Draco began to explain the next phase. "I need to find the other piece, and then once I find it, I can begin to repair it. Once it's repaired, my mission will be complete!" I swear Draco was extremely happy at the thought of finishing his mission. It only made me more curious to know what it was.

"So I assume you don't need me anymore," I said quietly. I started for the exit, hoping he would fall for it.

"No, don't leave," Draco told me in a stern voice. "You helped me this far, it only seems fitting that you can help just a tad bit more. Maybe I'll even let you have some credit."

I smiled and laughed. "I hope so; I mean, I've already spent so much time hunting down dusty books." Draco snorted at my lame joke and we left the restricted section for the last time.

* * *

Unfortunately, Draco couldn't find anything for me to do. So I went back to my usual schedule of doing schoolwork and trying to figure out what he was doing. Harry wasn't exactly a help either.

I couldn't go anywhere without Harry finding me and badgering me about what Draco was doing. I continued feeding him lies and stories and I think he must've figured out my story-telling skills, because he never came back for me to spy again.

Bad news came to me a few weeks after Draco and I found the book. On the front page of the _Daily Prophet_, it announced that someone else had gone missing. I felt a cold sweep over me when I recognized the picture of a woman with pale blond hair and bright blue eyes smiling kindly at me.

_Lucy Castamere, wife of known Death Eater (Robert Castamere), has been reported missing since last night. Officials say that signs of struggle are all over the house, clarifying that Castamere didn't go down without a fight._

Then it went on about better ways to defend yourself.

I remember what Dad had said about Castamere talking trash about Voldemort, and apparently the Dark Lord was going to get payback by kidnapping Castamere's wife. I shook my head and put the newspaper away.

Quidditch season was here and, surprisingly, Draco didn't plan on playing.

"But you love Quidditch," I said after he told me. Draco nodded and shrugged.

"Yeah, but this mission is far more important than a _game_." Draco said with what sounded like pride. "Once my mission is complete, then I can go back to playing sports. But I refuse to until then!"

I blinked at him. "Could you repeat that? My ears went into shock when you said this being more important than a game." Draco rolled his eyes at me.

There really wasn't much for me to do with Draco now that he had found his book. The only thing I really got to know about the mission after that was that he had found a place to repair it-whatever "it" was.

Fall was starting to melt into winter. My knee began to ache again. Despite everyone being jolly and cheerful, Draco's mood started to go downhill _fast._

"I'm not going to be able to finish it!" Draco confided to me one night in the library. He was freaking out. I had to get him out of there. So I grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him out of the library and to the first secretive place I could think of-Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

Myrtle glared furiously at me upon seeing my face. "Ugh-Snape; what do you want?"

"Nice to see you to, Myrtle," I replied bitterly. Draco looked around at the sudden change of scenery and frowned at me.

"What are we doing here?" He asked. I glanced from Myrtle to Draco before speaking.

"This is where we're going to meet up from now on, okay? It's a lot more private than the library and no one ever comes in here." Draco frowned at me again before staring at Myrtle.

"What about her?"

I waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about her; she doesn't have anyone to tell about two kids meeting in her bathroom. Myrtle let out a sob and flushed herself down the toilet. Draco and I shielded herself from the worst of the spray. I turned back to him. "Now what were you saying about the mission?"

Draco let out a shuddering sigh. "I don't think I can finish it. It has to be done by the end of the year and the year is almost over and I'm nowhere near close to fixing it!" Then Draco started to hyperventilate. "He's going to come after me. I might as well end it now; I won't be able to finish-"

"Draco!" I shouted. He stopped sputtering to stare at me. I sighed and put my hands on each of his shoulders. "Listen, Draco: you and me, we're going to finish this stupid mission of yours. I don't care that I don't know anything about it. It means a lot to you, and that's why I'm helping. Now I don't care how you finish your mission, but it has to be done. Got it?"

Draco looked at me for a long time. hen he did something very unexpected. He leaned forward and kissed me.

stood there, frozen. The last time Draco did something like this, it had been in front of dozens of people and he didn't even mean to do it. But when he pulled away this time, I saw that he actually did mean it this time.

Draco must've realized that what he did just crossed a line because he ducked his head and looked sort of shameful. "I'm sorry; I know about you and Weasley but..." He never finished his sentence.

I forced myself to stop staring at the floor and to look him dead in the eye. "It's fine, really; just remember what I said about doing whatever to finish your mission, okay." Draco nodded and left the bathroom. I paced around the Chamber of Secrets entrance about twenty times before leaving as well.


	10. 10: The Moment I Knew

I got a letter from George in the mail a few days later. He didn't say much, just talked about business and how Mr. Weasley said that it was possible for others to be reading everyone's letters. Other than that, he said business was booming and that Diagon Alley was getting more and more deserted.

There was something that George mentioned about love potions that got my attention. He said that several orders had come from Hogwarts. When I read this, I glanced at Cersei Clegane. She had just got a basket in the mail filled with beauty products. It sounded a lot like the special mailing package that George had told me about.

Draco had left me off duty due to the fact that he didn't want me to find where he was fixing the thing. So I spent more time with Ginny and Hermione in the library. She was frustrated with Ron and his new girlfriend, some girl from the D.A named Lavender Brown. Hermione said that she had caught them snogging in the Gryffindor Common Room last night. So now she was fuming about how immature they were and how they were setting a bad influence for the younger students.

"Is it me or does there seem to be more couples here this year?" I asked. "I mean, Ginny and Dean have been dating for a while now. Ron and Lavender seem...happy together. And George sent me a letter saying how love potions have been bought from here and are swimming around the castle."

Hermione sucked in her breath through her teeth. "How dare they? Love potions can be extremely dangerous if they're not brewed properly. You need to write to George and tell him to stop selling them to students here!"

"Sorry I said anything," I muttered. Hermione narrowed her eyes at me while Ginny tried to contain her laughter. I decided to change the subject. "Are any of you guys going to Slughorn's Christmas party?"

Hermione huffed an angry breath. "Regrettably. I had to ask Cormac McLaggen. I figured he would frustrate Ron the most." I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Since when did you care about what Ron thinks?" I asked. Ginny stared at Hermione too. Hermione turned bright red and looked sort of shameful.

"I don't know." She said slowly. "But this party had better be worth it if I have to listen to Cormac talking about Quidditch all night."

We laughed along. I had decided to go with Neville; he didn't have a date either and was too shy to ask anyone else. So I had hunted him down after class one day and asked him as boldly as I could. Neville had turned a bright cherry red and said okay. And I think Ginny was going with Dean. We quickly finished our homework and packed up to leave.

* * *

Snow was swirling around the castle the night of Slughorn's party. I was standing in the Entrance Hall waiting for Neville to come down from the Gryffindor Tower. I had to borrow a dress from Astoria, who I was shocked when she offered to let me borrow anything at all. When I had asked her why she had simply replied that we had a common enemy so there was no need to be rivals.

I was starting to wonder who this "common enemy" was and why was the rest of my Slytherin year suddenly acting so friendly.

My thoughts were put on hold as Neville trudged down the steps. He smiled sheepishly at me which I returned. With a stiff awkwardness he allowed me to take his arm and together we descended down the steps to where Slughorn's party was happening.

Whether it had been built that way, or because he used magical trickery to make it so, Slughorn's office was much larger than the usual teacher's study. The ceiling and walls had been draped with emerald, crimson, and gold hangings so that it looked as though we were all inside a vast tent. The room was crowded and stuffy and bathed in the center of the ceiling in which real fairies were fluttering, each a brilliant speck of light. Loud singing accompanied by what sounded like mandolins issued from a distant corner.

"Neville; Calla!" Slughorn boomed, almost as soon as we had squeezed in through the door. "Come in, come in, enjoy yourselves here!" Slughorn was wearing a tasseled velvet hat to match his smoking jacket. Neville and I glanced at each other uncertainly as Slughorn abandoned us to go harass some other student.

Hermione suddenly appeared beside us with Harry and Luna Lovegood right behind her. "Oh hey, Hermione." I greeted her. She nodded and smiled briefly at me, looking flustered.

"Hi; I just escaped-I mean, _left _Cormac under the mistletoe." Hermione said breathlessly. I hid my smirk from her as Luna tried to talk to Neville about Nargles. Harry just looked out of place and like he wanted to be anywhere else than here.

Harry handed me a glass of butterbeer, which I happily took. Then Luna said something about gum disease and I burst into laughter, accidentally dripping butterbeer all over me. Neville handed me a napkin but was smiling also. I looked up from my cup, grinning, when I spotted Draco Malfoy being dragged by Filch.

"Professor Slughorn," Filch wheezed, dragging Draco by the ear. "I discovered this boy lurking in the upstairs corridor. He claims to have been invited to your party and to have been delayed in setting out. Did you issue him an invite?"

Draco pulled away from Filch, looking furious. "Alright, I wasn't invited! I was planning on gate-crashing, happy?"

Filch made a move to drag Draco from the party but Slughorn stopped him. "It's quite fine, Argus. It's Christmas after all, no harm done." Filch left the scene with anger etched onto his features.

How long had it been since I last saw Draco up close? It had only been a few weeks since he kissed me in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. But now I saw that he had dark shadows under his eyes and his skin had a grayish tinge to it.

"I'd like a word with you, Draco," Dad said suddenly, swooping in on him like a bird of prey. Slughorn tried to object but Dad had already grabbed Draco by the shoulders and had dragged him off farther into the party room.

He was going to interrogate him about the mission. I didn't know how well it was going, just that it was going very slowly. Draco was going to need more help and more time if this was going to work. Harry had disappeared from my side but I hardly even noticed. It was time to get serious about helping Draco's mission.


	11. 11: Lucy

Word spread around Hogwarts really fast about what had happened to Katie Bell. Apparently she had touched a cursed necklace and was sent to St. Mungo's. This was the most believable story. Another I heard was that she had crossed with a banshee at the Hog's Head who had cursed Katie into growing a second head. Both ended with her going to St. Mungo's.

I went right for Hermione after hearing about it. Word on the street was that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had seen it happen. Hermione quickly filled me in, saying how Katie had touched the cursed necklace and had floated into the air before being slammed down repeatedly. She was lucky to be alive.

Draco seemed to be hiding from me. I started to think that it was Draco who sent that cursed necklace to Katie. But it still didn't make much sense to me. Why Katie? I tried several times that week to find Draco, but he was making it his job to remain hidden from me.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione left for Christmas vacation. Dad wanted to stay at Hogwarts for the week. When I had asked why, he just said that he wanted to show me something. I figured that it had to do with Draco's mission, so I agreed to immediately.

Ginny hugged me tightly on the morning that the train was supposed to leave. "I'll make sure to tell George that you said hi. And Fred too; he'll start to feel left out if I don't."

"Thank you, Ginny," I said. "I'll make sure to tell you everything that happens here. I'm going to see if I can help Draco with anything."

"Do you even know what you're helping him with?" Ginny asked. I felt a certain type of dread fill my stomach when she said that. I had thought about what Draco was doing for a long time now. Whatever it was Voldemort wanted it done soon. It had to be something awful. But I ignored the feeling and put on a brave face for Ginny.

"No but he's fixing something. Don't ask me what, he won't let me know." I said shortly. Ginny nodded and gave me one last hug.

"Mom will send you an extra large gift basket," Ginny said with her goodbye. "I'll see you next year." With one last smile, Ginny turned around and headed for the train. I buried myself deeper into my coat and started to trudge back up the slope to the castle.

* * *

I had no idea what Dad was planning to show me but whatever it was he had on his travelling cloak. I eyed him and approached cautiously. Dad looked up and sighed. "It's finally come, Calla."

"What has?" I asked nervously. Dad sighed again and extended his hand.

"Something that has been coming for a long time." He said with forced indifference. I could tell by his voice that he didn't like what was about to happen. I took his hand, feeling like a young child again, and then Dad Apparated out of his office and into a bitterly cold and icy field.

"I thought we couldn't Apparate inside of Hogwarts," I yelled over the blasting icy wind. Dad held onto my hand and began to lead me towards a looming black figure in the distance.

"I had to pull a few strings to get it lifted in my office," Dad shouted to me. "Now you must be quiet now and do not speak until you are spoken to."

I opened my mouth to say something else but shut it up. Fear was starting to grip at my gut and I really really wanted to know what the heck was happening, but forced myself to be silent. The black looming figure in the distance got closer and I discovered that it was a house, a manor if that. I gulped and allowed myself to be pulled inside.

The inside was dark and warm. Dad let go of my hand and grabbed my wrist. He turned to me and bent down close. "Remember what I told you about being silent." He whispered. I nodded with fright and allowed him to lead away from the foyer and into a large and black room.

The people inside this room were mostly wearing black or gray. They grouped together and ignored Dad and me for the most part. I didn't recognize most of these people but a few faces stood out. I felt a cold sweep over me that had nothing to do with the ice storm raging outside.

"Severus, I see you brought her," A familiar voice said from behind us. Dad and I turned around to see my mother, Margaret Tully staring us down. She looked better than she had at the Ministry last year. Her graying auburn hair was pinned into a neat and tight bun and her weird yellow eyes gleamed viciously at me. Dad took a step forward to protect me from Tully's gaze.

"She deserves to be here, Margaret," Dad said icily. "No one can deny that." Tully snorted and walked away to a group with a woman who I recognized as Bellatrix Lestrange.

Suddenly a hush spread over the entire room. I shrank behind Dad as a hooded black figure entered. I didn't have to guess to know that it was the Dark Lord himself. I just couldn't bring myself to look at him. Then Voldemort spoke in a soft voice that put the hair on the back of my neck straight up.

"I'm sure you all know why I have summoned you here today." Voldemort began. "We have gathered here to finally act on the traitorous going ons."

There was dead silence in the room. No one seemed to keen on moving or even breathing. I continued to hide behind Dad, hoping that no one cared that I was there. Then there was the sound of struggling and I risked the glance up to see what was happening.

Robert Castamere was being held down by four other Death Eaters. His mouse brown and thin hair had gotten streaks of iron gray in it and his face looked more weathered than ever. But right now it was twisted with rage and fear. The doors creaked open again and Castamere froze as he recognized his wife being dragged into the room.

Lucy was gagged and was still wearing her lime green uniform for St. Mungo's. Her pale blond hair had once been up in a bun and several strands were hanging loose around her thin and pale face. Her wide blue eyes found Castamere held down on the floor and they filled with tears. She called out to him but her words were severely muffled due to the dirty cloth covering her mouth.

"Let her go, you monster!" Castamere screamed at Voldemort. "I was _drunk_ my Lord! I didn't mean a thing I said! Just please let my Lucy go; I'm begging you!"

Voldemort stared coldly down at Castamere, as if caring for your spouse was a filthy thing. "Repent of your treason, Robert. Repent and I might spare your pretty little wife over there."

"I REPENT! I REPENT! Now please, let her go!" Tears were now cascading down both Robert's and Lucy's face. She stared at him with fear and heartbreak gleaming there. Castamere still struggled against his captors to reach her.

"Tell her that everything will be okay, Robert." Voldemort said slowly. "Tell her that you'll save her and that she'll be free and safe."

"Everything's going to be okay, Lucy," Castamere repeated, his words blurring together. "You're going to be fine and everything will be okay." Lucy sobbed as another fresh wave of tears fell down her face.

The Dark Lord stepped forward until he was right next to Lucy. Castamere struggled even more. He was helpless and was forced to watch Voldemort wave his wand and shout the Killing Curse. Lucy Castamere's body crumbled to the ground in a pathetic way and Castamere let out a low and long scream that echoed around the large room. The other Death Eaters looked away in an awkward way. The ones holding Castamere let him go and the man scrambled to his dead wife's side and scooped her up into his arms. Voldemort sneered at him before leaving the room.

"Come now, Calla," Dad whispered into my ear. I nodded numbly, still staring at where Castamere was cradling his wife's limp body. Dad gently grasped my elbow and pulled me away from the terrible scene. Once we were outside again he quickly Apparated us back to the castle.

I was silent, horrified at what I had just witnessed. Dad stared at me for a long moment before speaking. "You now see what we are trying to protect don't you, Calla? That's where you come in."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked blankly. Dad didn't answer right away.

"I want you to make sure that those around you stay on the right path. You know what they were meant to do and you know what Malfoy is planning even though you don't know the details." Dad leaned down so that we were at eye level. "I'm just asking you to protect them, _all _of them."

* * *

**A/N: Listen to the song "Lucy" by Skillet after reading this. I listened to it about five times while writing this and it's one of my favorite songs and one of the songs that is to be on the second part of the Professor's Daughter soundtrack. That's all for now.**


	12. 12: Choose Wisely

Did Draco even know who he was working for? After watching Voldemort murder Lucy Castamere I was convinced that Draco wasn't positive about his employer. Whatever Voldemort was having Draco do, it had to be horrible. Whatever Voldemort wanted him to do, I couldn't let him do it.

It took a long time to find Draco. I walked by a hallway on the third floor and accidentally frightened a little first year girl. She squealed and dropped the large brass scales she had been holding.

"Sorry," I mumbled and fixed her scales for her. She remained rooted to the spot, staring at me with terrified eyes. I blinked at her. "Were you going somewhere with those?"

The girl shook her head at an alarming speed. I frowned at her. Suddenly the door she had been standing in front of opened with a snap. Draco's pale blond head poked out and peered at me.

"Calla; nice of you to drop by." Draco said nonchalantly. "Why don't you come on inside?" I glanced suspiciously at the first year girl once more before following him into the dark and dank room.

The room was huge and incredibly messy. Random articles of junk were thrown around the cathedral sized room. I saw a bust in the shape of an ugly man on which someone had put a dusty wig and a tiara. I grinned to myself at the simple chaotic peace that this place had about it. "Who's your guard?" I asked.

"That's Goyle," Draco said curtly. "I made him some Polyjuice potion to guard the door like that," I nodded and dropped the subject, not entirely sure that Goyle was enjoying his time of acting like a little girl.

"How'd you manage to convince him to do something like that?" I asked. Draco shrugged and didn't answer. He kept leading me through the maze of random items. I saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of my eye and I could've swore that I saw some Cornish pixies from back when Lockhart was a professor. I shook my head and continued to follow Draco through the maze.

He stopped short and I accidentally bumped into him. Draco pressed his hand on my shoulder and pushed me forward until I was facing a dusty and old cabinet. It looked vaguely familiar and I realized with a jolt that it was the same cabinet I had seen in my nightmares. I ran my hand down its wooden face and shuddered. I couldn't explain it; just that this cabinet, whatever it was supposed to be used for was something terrible.

"This is what you've been fixing?" I asked softly. Draco stepped forward until we were shoulder to shoulder. I took in his appearance again: His skin had turned gray and he had large bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days. Draco's pale blond hair was no longer sleek and it was now sort of tattered looking and like it hadn't been washed thoroughly.

"I've spent days in here at a time, working on this," Draco told me. "School doesn't matter anymore. Once this project is complete, I won't need to come to Hogwarts anymore." I stepped back and stared at him.

"Draco, do you even know what you're doing?" I asked. Draco turned around and stared at me.

"Of course I know what I'm doing,"

"No; I mean, do you know what you're supposed to be fighting for?" I asked more firmly this time. Draco narrowed his eyes at me.

"If you're trying to tell me to stop this and back out, than you can-"

"I'm not trying to tell you to stop, Draco," I said. "I'm just saying: choose your side wisely." With that, I turned on my heel and left Draco standing there, hoping he would take my advice. But that hope was drained away when the sounds of bangs and sparks sounded from the cabinet, letting me know that Draco is continuing his work.


	13. 13: Sectumsempra

"So all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred said. It was evening: the hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the lamps lit. Ron's bed was the only occupied one. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and I were sitting around him; we had spent all day waiting outside the double doors, trying to see inside whenever somebody went in or out. Madam Pomfrey had only let us in at eight o'clock. Fred and George had arrived at ten past.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," George said grimly, rubbing my back. Normally I wouldn't enjoy this type of touch, but it was coming from George, and any type of affection from him was worth it.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," Fred said. "There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him-"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked, looking up.

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," George said gloomily. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore...But never mind that now."

Fred drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face. "How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry retold the story about how Ron got poisoned by drinking a poisoned bottle of mead. The bottle had been given to Professor Slughorn. But whoever gave the bottle to him didn't think about Slughorn keeping the bottle to himself.

Harry didn't need to try and explain his theory about who did it when I had a very good feeling as to who did it. Draco was growing more and more desperate to get whatever his mission was done. He hardly came out of the Room of Requirement and he wasn't inviting me in anymore. This whole poisoned mead incident just proved to me that Draco's mission was to kill someone. But who that someone was, I had no idea.

Madam Pomfrey burst out of her office, yelling about only six visitors at a time. Harry, Hermione, and I left, leaving the Weasley siblings with their wounded brother. As I got up to leave, George grabbed hold of my hand and held on to it for just a moment. I squeezed his hand back before he actually let me go.

The three of us made our way in silence to the Entrance Hall where we would go our separate ways. It was there where Harry swooped in on me out of nowhere and grasped my elbow tight. Hermione gasped and all I could do was glare at him.

"What is Malfoy _doing_, Calla?" Harry asked, hissing through his teeth. I stared at him with what I hoped was a convincing confused look.

"What are you talking about, Harry?" I hissed right back. Harry's grip got even tighter and Hermione tutted at him to stop.

"You're protecting him for some weird reason!" Harry snapped. "I need to know what he's doing. You know; you've always been a spy for us when it comes to Slytherin. So you need to do your job and tell me what you know!"

I straightened myself and ripped my arm from Harry's tight grip. I met his blazing emerald eyes with my own fiery black pit eyes. "I don't know anything about Draco's plans. You're not the only one who's noticed his bizarre behavior but I'm not making it my obsession to figure it out." Without another word I stalked away from the two of them and as I walked away, I heard Hermione scolding Harry for overuse of assertion or something like that.

* * *

The weather got much warmer over the next few weeks. And I noticed that there seems to be a large amount of angry ghost sightings on the seventh floor, right where the Room of Requirement was. I knew it was Harry, hiding underneath that Invisibility Cloak of his. It wouldn't be safe to go and try to help Draco at all. And Draco must've noticed the idea of Harry hiding there, because he was barely able to go work on his cabinet at all.

I also noticed how crying noises would come from Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Not her cries; no one usually cared about her cries. But these cries were human, and they were Draco's. Which made me feel even more awful for forcing myself to walk away.

One day I was walking on the floor to where Myrtle's bathroom was. But I froze where I stood when saw Harry enter the bathroom, drawn by the sounds of someone crying. "Oh no," I breathed and dropped my books. I bolted the rest of the way down the empty stretch of hall and into the bathroom.

Instantly the wall above my head exploded. The force knocked me off my feet and I ended up taking a nose-dive into the tile floor. Blood spurted as I heard the sickening crack of my nose breaking. I carefully stood up, pinching my aching nose shut and peeked around the wall. Harry and Draco were firing hex after hex at each other. Myrtle screamed, trying to get them to stop. Then she saw me and swooped towards me instantly.

"Myrtle," I said thickly through the flow of blood filling up my mouth. "Go get Professor Snape. _Only _Professor Snape. Do you know what he looks like?"

"He looks just like you," Myrtle said quickly, her voice cracking out of fear. "I'm on it." She swooped down into the floor and disappeared right as another explosion happened on the ceiling, causing the small bits of tile to rain down on me.

I covered my head in defense and all of a sudden, the hexes stopped. I uncovered my face and looked around. Debris coated the entire bathroom and water was being sprayed from the toilets that had been blown up. My ears perked up as the small sounds of whimpering sounded. I got to my feet and slowly rounded the corner.

Harry was leaning up against the wall, looking horrified. He whipped around and stared at me with terror in his eyes, gaping. I looked down at the floor and felt absolute horror drench into my skin.

Draco was laying, all splayed out, on the floor with red blossoms all over his chest and throat and face. Blood was running from his wounds and onto the wet floor where it drained, along with the water, down the drain. I looked from Draco to Harry and back again. "Harry, what have you done?"

The doors burst open and Dad entered, looking livid. He knelt over Draco, drew his wand, and traced over the wounds Harry had made, muttering an incantation that sounded like a song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Dad wiped the residue from Draco's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.

Harry and I were still standing there, soaked in water and blood. Myrtle was wailing and sobbing from overhead. When Dad had performed his countercurse for the third time, he half-lifted Draco into a standing position. He supported Draco across the bathroom, turning at the door to say in a cold fury, "You, Potter...You wait here for me. Calla keep an eye on him."

After Dad left with Draco, I had Myrtle follow them to make sure Draco would be okay. Without arguing, Myrtle nodded and floated after Dad and Draco. I turned to Harry. "What happened?"

Harry didn't answer, he just looked at me as if I was a completely different person. I supposed that I was with my blood staining the front of my face and my raven-black eyes flashing and furious. I assume I looked more like Dad now than I ever had. I drew my wand and pointed it right at Harry's face. "Answer me or I swear I'll do it."

"Why are you defending him?" Harry asked. He was looking at me with confusion and fear and small hints of anger. I stepped forward and grabbed him by the front of the robes with my free hand. I used this hand to force him against the wall. I was a lot shorter than Harry, but I wasn't going to let a little thing like height get in my way.

"Answer me, Potter, what the hell happened here?" I snarled. Harry glared at me with something that looked close to loathing in his eyes. Harry never answered, just glared at me with that look in his eyes. It wasn't until Dad entered and broke us apart did I even bother to move.

I left the bathroom then, not wanting to hear Dad's interrogation. I stalked around the school to the hospital wing to get my nose looked at. Right when I entered I was greeted by the sight of the familiar group of Slytherin's around Draco's bed. They took one look at the water and blood all over me and soon Jaime and Astoria were running up to me.

"Are you hurt?" Astoria asked with genuine worry in her voice. I told her that it was my nose that had been broken. She gasped and ushered me quickly to Madam Pomfrey. Jaime, Astoria, and Jaime's girlfriend Daphne sat with me while Madam Pomfrey made a quick coat for my nose. Draco was passed out with Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle all hovering over his bedside.

"Calla," Astoria said quietly. I looked up at her. She was watching me closely as if tracking my movements. "Remember when I said that we have a common enemy?" I nodded. "Well, I think you now know who that enemy is."


	14. 14: Beginning of the End

Harry was given detention every single Saturday for the rest of the year with Dad. I couldn't say that I was against the punishment but now every single time Harry saw me he glared at me as if I had just killed several people. Ginny told me one day while he studied in the library that he could count this as my betrayal thing.

Our O.W.L.s were going to start taking place after the Quidditch Cup game. I wasn't interested in going at all. It was Gryffindor against Ravenclaw and Harry wasn't allowed to play so now Ginny was filling in as the Seeker. She tried to get me to come but once I made it plain that I didn't want to go, she dropped the subject.

Draco was back on his feet. He was still shaking and weak from the loss of blood but Madam Pomfrey said that he'd be back to normal soon enough. It had been in the Great Hall during breakfast when Draco had made a reappearance. By this time, everyone in the school had heard about what happened in the bathroom. They stared at him as he made his way slowly to the Slytherin table. Pansy and Cersei leapt to their feet and helped him back. I exchanged a glance with Tyrion as he returned to his usual seat. I had a feeling that his seating arrangement wouldn't live for that long, but it was nice that he was acknowledging his old friends again.

After breakfast, Draco quickly hobbled over to me and wrapped his arms around me stiffly. I stiffened, a little weirded out by this hug, but I hugged him back just the same. When Draco released me, he stared at me with something that looked like gratitude.

"Madam Pomfrey said it was you who found me first," Draco said quietly. "I just wanted to say...thank you."

I blinked, completely caught off guard by this gratitude. "Um, you're welcome." Draco smiled at me, the faint scars on his face stretching slightly. He glanced over his shoulder at Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle, where they were waiting for him. Then he turned back to me.

"This is going to be over soon," Draco said. "It's almost finished." Before I could question him any further, Draco limped off to his friends without another glance over his shoulder at me.

* * *

Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. Ginny had squealed about it the next day in the library, causing Madam Pince to shush us. I narrowed my eyes at her; there was something she wasn't telling me. "Anything else happen at the game?"

Ginny turned scarlet and held in another squeal. "It was after the game actually." She glanced around to make sure no one overheard her. "Harry _kissed _me!"

Despite the anger and distrust I felt for Harry right now I could feel nothing but happiness for my best friend. I grinned widely with her as she beamed. "After all those years of mooning after him actually did some good." Ginny and I laughed until Madam Pince shushed us again.

* * *

O.W.L.s loomed over the fifth years heads as the weeks went on. The first one I had to take was my Transfiguration exam. Professor McGonagall made a note after my rabbits still fidgeted after turning them into slippers. But I did pretty well turning Rowling into a black tea cup, although my owl pecked at me angrily afterwards.

Professor Slughorn was mighty impressed with my starting brew of Polyjuice potion. I had a good feeling that I passed that exam with flying colors. That was my last exam for the day and I went straight down to the dungeons to study for my exams the next day.

Dad smiled coolly at me when I demonstrated how to defend myself by dueling. I guess that fighting with Death Eaters the year before helped a bit. And for extra credit I conjured a full body Patronus. The bright silver magpie circled the room four times and several people in the class "Oohed" and "Aahed".

The rest of my exams went by pretty well, the only one I had a problem with was Divination. And it was there where Trelawney started raving about cabinets and a lightning-struck tower. I swallowed and prayed that she didn't mean what I thought she meant.

Ginny now spent most of her time with Harry. I felt happy for her, but missed my friend. Tyrion told me that it seemed that the Slytherins were trying to be my friends. I had noticed that too, but after most of them had bullied me for half my life, I wasn't keen on forgiving them so easily.

I was reading in the Common Room when Draco ran inside. He bolted straight for me with a huge smile on his face. "It's done." He told me in a hushed voice. I stared at him.

"It's completely done?" I asked. Draco nodded, looking ecstatic. "Well, what does that mean now?"

"It means that it's going to happen tonight. My mission is going to finally be completed tonight!"


	15. 15: The Lightning-Struck Tower

I sat beside Ginny the next day underneath a beech tree by the lake. We had finished our O.W.L exams and were trying to soak up as much sun as possible while we could. We only had one more week of Hogwarts left before the train came to take us our separate ways. I had told her about Draco saying that whatever he needed done was done. Ginny stared at me with wide eyes.

"That must have to do with what Harry wants us to do," Ginny said thoughtfully. I looked at her curiously.

"What does Harry want you to do exactly?" I asked. "I know that I've been kicked out of the loop but I could still help."

"He wants us to guard the castle tonight." Ginny said. "He has some business to do with Dumbledore and wants me, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Neville to keep an eye on Malfoy and the castle." I looked away from Ginny to the lake. The setting sun was staining the sky blood red. The last time I had seen the sky like this, Sirius had died. I prayed that no one would die tonight.

I nodded. "I'll help. Harry may not like it, but you all are still my friends." Ginny smiled sadly at me.

"Thanks Calla; I think we'l all feel a bit better knowing that you're fighting with us." She said solemnly. We stared at each other for a moment. Ginny had said that we'd be fighting. The idea of guarding the castle now instantly came with the fact that we'll be risking our lives as well.

* * *

I glanced down the corridor, Neville right behind me. We were both guarding the Entrance Hall, keeping an eye on the entrance to the dungeons in case Draco came up. Hermione had put herself in charge of deciding on fighting in pairs. And since Neville and I had fought and trained together, and because we were both used to each other's movements, Hermione paired us together first. Ginny and Ron were on the seventh floor and Hermione and Luna were both in the dungeons.

"D'you think someone will really try and come at us?" Neville asked me. I shrugged.

"If they see us standing in their way, I don't doubt it." I said. Neville looked nervous at my words but forced the look away and replaced it with one of determination. As I saw this, I remembered something I had read it _Hogwarts: A History_, something that Godric Gryffindor had said.

_Being brave is being terrified, but acting anyway._

Good old, Gryffindor, I thought to myself with a smile.

The night stretched on with no sign of anything. Neville and I took to a game of "I Spy". But just then Dad ran out of the dungeons. He stared at both of us for a long moment, but then he ignored us and ran up the stairs. Neville and I shrugged at each other right as the castle shook from overhead.

Neville and I took one look at each other before bolting up the stairs after Dad. It was a long way up the stairs to the seventh floor and by the time we reached it, both Neville and I were out of breath. But that tiredness disappeared right when I saw Ginny and Ron taking on four Death Eaters.

With a yell that didn't even sound human, I ran forward and shot a hex at a short and plump witch. Her dirty blond hair was tied in a tight bun that looked like it was pulling her face backwards. Her nose looked like a potato.

"Why hello there, baby Snape," The woman sneered. She shot several curses my way but I blocked every single one of them. The Death Eater's face turned from cruel mocking to full on rage. She hammered at me, trying to find a chink. I blocked most of her curses, the rest of them ricocheting onto the walls and statues of armor. I kept getting blast back a few inches every other curse. Her face was turning red and sweaty from the amount of force she was using with trying to blast me to pieces. Neville was fighting a big blond Death Eater nearby.

"Alecto!" The wizard fighting Ron screamed. I saw in horror that he had blasted Ron against the wall and knocked him out. "The tower!" He ran off.

The ugly witch fighting me-Alecto-whipped around to smile evilly at me. "It's been nice knowing you, baby Snape!" She cackled and ran after the wizard-who judging by his potato-nose had to be her brother.

The other two Death Eaters ran away and followed Alecto and her brother. Ron was slumped against the stone wall, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. I turned to face Ginny and Neville.

"Ginny-stay here with Ron," I ordered. "With the amount of racket we made a teacher should be on their way. Neville come with me." The two of them followed my orders without question.

Where was Dad? He had surely made it here before Neville and me. He was probably fighting some more Death Eaters-that had to be it...

"Calla!" Lupin's voice dragged me back to the present. He looked like he had just gotten done with a fight. I felt my heart swell when I recognized Tonks, Bill, and Professor McGonagall right behind him. McGonagall had some bruises on her face but looked fine. Tonks's mouse brown hair was disheveled but she had bright lights in her eyes.

"What are you doing out of bed, Miss Snape?" McGonagall asked me shrilly. "You too, Mr. Longbottom?" Always the teacher.

Neville told them about Harry's orders as Ginny and Ron joined us with Hermione and Luna right behind them. Reinforcements, I thought grimly.

"All the Death Eaters ran into the Astronomy Tower," Tonks said. "They put some kind of spell on it so we can't enter."

"Only Death Eaters can enter the tower," Lupin said darkly. We circled the tower door, waiting for it to open. Bill was the closest with Professor McGonagall right behind him. I stood between Neville and Tonks, waiting for that door to open. Any second now...

The door crashed open and someone launched out quite like an animal. I heard Bill scream with fear and agony. Alecto came right at me with her wand held high. I blasted it out of her hand and sent her running after it. Ron and Ginny were dueling with that big blond wizard. Hermione and Lupin were taking on two more Death Eaters with masks. Alecto gave me one last glare before running away.

"Calla, go after her!" Lupin called. I bounded after the woman without bothering to look back. Alecto's fat back was right in front of me. I shot a hex at her but missed. Alecto tried to get at me to but missed by a long shot. Suddenly she exploded into a streak of black smoke and flew back towards me and over my head. I spun around as she went over and raised my wand. But I came nose to nose with two people who I didn't expect to see.

Dad and Draco stared at me. I stared back, not knowing what to do. Did Draco lead the Death Eaters here? Had Dad caught him? But if that was so, why was he pointing the wand at me...

"Calla," Dad said quietly. "Go back to your friends. Lower your wand and tell no one that you saw us leave." He paused. "I'll explain everything to you, anything you want to know, when you come home for summer." Dad backed up until he could kick open the door with his foot and when he did that he ran away, calling for Draco to follow.

Draco and I stared hard at each other. Draco had tears glistening in his eyes and tear stains on his face. I got the sick feeling that he had completed his mission.

"Draco; what have you done?" I asked softly. Draco shook like a leaf with fear and looked over his shoulder to where Dad had disappeared. Then the sound of footsteps came our way. Draco looked at me with fear in his pale eyes.

"You should hide from them, Calla," Draco said weakly, his voice cracking. "Greyback will rip you to shreds if he sees you. Please, hide." Without another word he ran after my father. I ducked behind a tapestry and only came back out when the sounds of footsteps were gone.

The castle was deadly quiet. I walked outside and into the courtyard, where it looked like most of the school had gathered. As I approached, several students stared at me and backed away as if I had the plague. I froze when I saw the center of the group.

Professor Dumbledore's body was bent and his limps were bent at odd angles. Harry wept right beside his body, Ginny held him quietly, silent tears streaming down her face. I felt silent tears move down my own face as I stared at the body of the great Albus Dumbledore. How...Who...

The entire student body and faculty didn't have any words. We all stood there in the light drizzle, shocked as we tried to wrap our minds around the idea that Dumbledore was dead. I stifled a sob and looked up to the dark gray sky. The sun was beginning to rise.


	16. 16: Would It Matter

There was a sort of forced silence throughout the rest of the day. Several students had to go to Madam Pomfrey to get something for the shock of Dumbledore...dead.

I still couldn't get my head around it. Even after seeing the body, I still half expected to see Professor Dumbledore striding to his throne-like chair in the Great Hall, banged up from the fall but other than that, okay. But then Professor McGonagall took that throne-like seat that morning at dinner and it hit me. Dumbledore was gone. McGonagall was our headmaster now.

I roamed the halls by myself majority of the time now. Students were taking to avoiding me like the black plague. Even those so-called Slytherin friends who wouldn't leave me alone didn't risk being seen with me. And now I knew why.

Dad had been the one to kill Dumbledore. Professor McGonagall announced how Dumbledore had died, and it had been Dad who had fired the killing curse. I couldn't help but notice the tidal waves of looks that I got when she announced that. I ducked my head and tried to hide from them, but it was no use.

I couldn't really feel any anger towards Dad or Draco at all. All I felt was numb. Dad had said that he'd explain every detail to me once I got back to Spinner's End. For once, I couldn't wait to go back there.

All lessons were cancelled. A funeral was going to take place the day before the train came to take us away for summer. I wanted to go, but didn't think that I could face the judging faces that would be staring at me with deep dislike, as if I had been the one who killed him.

Most of my time now was occupied by wandering the castle alone. Once when I walked past Myrtle's bathroom, she swooped out and joined me by floating slowly beside me. I really didn't want her there, but she was all the company I had left. So she stayed.

One day, the day before the funeral, I was walking along without Myrtle. She said that she'd meet me farther down the hall. I heard hurried footsteps right behind me and as I turned around I was forced against the stone wall.

"Harry!" Hermione's shocked voice rang through the deserted corridor. "Keep in mind who actually did it!"

I stared into Harry's burning emerald eyes. He was giving me a look that screamed pure hating. After what happened between us this year, I wasn't surprised to see it there.

"Calla, I want a straight answer." Harry said through gritted teeth. I could hear him grinding his teeth. "You and I both know that you were defending Malfoy this year. You wouldn't let us know anything about what he was doing. What was so important that you'd turn your back on your friends for him?"

I hesitated. If I told Harry about my duty to keep an eye on Draco's mission, it would pretty much hint that I knew all about his mission, even though I didn't. This had to be said correctly.

"I swear to God, Harry, I had no idea about Draco's mission." I started carefully after Harry let me go. "My dad told me to keep an eye on Draco's mission but he wouldn't let me know about it and neither would Draco."

Harry stared at me with shock in his eyes. Hermione had clapped her hands over her mouth. Ron glared at the area around my head. They all knew Harry's suspicion, but I don't think any of them actually thought that I had something to do with this mess.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Harry asked softly. I looked miserably in his eyes.

"Because I had to get Draco's trust." I answered. "If I hadn't, then he never would've let me near his mission." Harry's face was one of blank indifference. But then it twisted horrifyingly into a mask of hate and fury.

"You turned your back on us," Harry snarled. "I don't care if you thought you were doing the right thing, you stabbed us all in the back when you offered your help to that slimy git!" Harry paused and glared daggers at me. "Then again, what did I really expect from a TRAITOR'S BASTARD?" Harry roared that last part.

I recoiled as though Harry had slapped me. He glared me down with pure loathing. Ron had stopped staring at me and was staring at Harry with shock; he knew that that statement was going too far. Hermione had tears going down her face as she glanced from between me and Harry. Without another word, Harry whipped around and stalked off. Ron and Hermione followed with one last look of pity and anger at me.

* * *

The funeral passed with me standing far behind the crowd. Even the guests who knew about how Dumbledore died stayed far away from me. The only exception was George Weasley. I had been standing away from everyone else, not feeling like trying to blend in when everyone glared viciously at me or muttered "bastard" as I walked by. Then, as the rest of Weasley family strolled by to find Ron and Ginny (Mr. and Mrs. Weasley holding hands, a newly scarred Bill with his fiance Fleur and Fred and George bringing up the rear) George took one look at me standing all alone and veered around right to me. It only took a second for Fred to join us.

I realized why Draco had let me inside his mission. Because I had stayed. He spent most of the year pushing people away, and I was the only one too stubborn to abandon him. I thought of that as George moved one of his fingers in a circle on my palm. I squeezed his hand and held on.

Lupin and Tonks joined us shortly before the funeral started. I was faintly surprised to see them holding hands but they didn't bring it up and neither did I.

Now I was on the train heading back to Spinner's End. We were almost at King's Cross and from there I was going to take another train to my town. Dad wouldn't be able to meet me outside the train station as usual.

"Calla, may I come in?" I looked up from the foggy window to where Hermione had spoken softly at the door. I nodded and looked back to the fog outside. Hermione sat across from me and for a long while, neither of us spoke. Then finally she spoke. "I'm sorry for how everyone's treating you. You weren't the one at that tower that night and everyone seems to have forgotten that."

"Hermione why are you really here?" I asked curtly. "I know you didn't come here to talk about _that_." Hermione sighed and sat forward a little bit.

"Harry, Ron, and I are not coming back to Hogwarts next year." Hermione said. I stared at her. What did she mean? "Dumbledore left us a job and there isn't any time to go to school. Besides, now that Dumbledore's gone, Voldemort won't bother hiding."

"So you're hiding?" I asked. Hermione nodded. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Harry would be furious if he knew what I was doing, but _I_ trust you, Calla. I want you to take care of Hogwarts next year. Sure, some of the students won't like you but I know that you're the person who won't let innocent students get hurt."

I didn't answer her right away and that led Hermione to leave the compartment. The train slowed down to a stop.

* * *

I sighed and approached the door to the Spinner's End house. The windows were dark and forbidding-looking but I entered anyway. I could hear Dad shuffling papers in his office. I felt the first hot surge of fury. I had really thought that we were getting closer. But then he had stabbed me in the back, just as he stabbed Professor Albus Dumbledore in the back.

I opened the door to his study, prepared to chew him out, but it wasn't Dad who was sitting in the desk chair. I stared in horror at the auburn hair pinned up into a neat bun and the wasted face from Azkaban. Margaret Tully's yellow eyes blazed at me from Dad's chair.

"Welcome home, dearie," Tully said kindly in her soft-spoken voice. "It's so nice of you to join us." She gestured to the back corner of the wall where my back was turned.

I spun around only to be grabbed at by Dolohov and Avery. I struggled and tried to fight but they quickly pinned my small body down to the floor. Tully stood up from the chair.

"Prepare her," She said with a disturbingly amount of malice in her voice. Avery roughly grabbed my left arm and pressed down hard on my wrist, pinning it firmly against the carpet. As Tully drew near with her wand drawn, I discovered the truth to their actions.

"No, no, no, no, please not that!" I started to scream but Dolohov pointed his wand at my mouth and muttered something and I was forced to be silent. Silent tears flowed down my face as Tully knelt down to hover over my left forearm.

"This is for your own good," Tully whispered to me. The she placed the tip of her wand down against my forearm and I screamed.

It felt as though someone was pressing a white-hot rod against my arm. It burned and my flesh started to fizzle as it turned black. I could see the Dark Mark branded against my skin: dark black against my pale arm. More tears slid down my face even after Dolohov and Avery got off of me.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dad's voice screamed from the doorway. There were jets of red light and Avery and Dolohov were slumped unconscious on the floor. I saw Tully hanging upside down in midair.

"It was destined to happen, Severus." Tully answered him calmly. "I was simply acting on the Dark Lord's orders. If he wants a fifteen year old in his army, so be it."

Another jet of light and Tully was slumped beside her two cronies. Not even a second had passed and I was suddenly in Dad's arms. I allowed myself to bawl in his arms like a child. My arm still burned as Dad inspected it.

"I'm so sorry, Calla," Dad murmured. "This was never supposed to happen."

All of Dad's past faults were wiped from my memory. I instantly forgot all of them as he gently rocked me back and forth on the floor. I had suspected that something like this would happen, but not that it has, I was starting to dread the next year, where my loyalties and friendships were bound to be put to the test.

* * *

**A/N: Oh my gosh, we're almost finished with this series. Happy dance! *dances happily***

**As I do at the end of all of my stories, I would like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, alerted this story.** **It means a lot to come onto this website and see the people are enjoying this story. :)**

**Good news! "The Professor's Daughter: Deathly Hallows" is up on my profile and you should go check it out! We're almost at the end of this grand adventure.**

**I'm super excited for the finally installment and I hope y'all are too. Until the next update, see y'all soon!**

**-Katie**


End file.
